Are We Prepared for our cross? (Audio)

“Quite a crowd was trailing him, and he turned and said to them, “If you anyone is considering joining me, and does not break his attachment for father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, indeed—his own life—he simply cannot belong to my fellowship. Anyone who does not accept his own cross and fall in behind me cannot belong to my fellowship.

If any of you were intending to put up a house, wouldn’t you first sit down and figure out the cost, so you could see if you had enough to finish it? Otherwise you might lay the foundation, and because you didn’t have funds to go any further, people would be begin making cracks about you, saying, ‘This fellow is a great hand at starting things, but he can’t carry through on them.’” (Luke 14:25-31 Cotton Patch Gospel)

If you are like me, you have a lot of unfinished projects around the house: an unfinished basement, unfinished garden, unfinished fence, unfinished mowed lawn, unfinished dishes or laundry. Many of us start something with joy and glee and then we get to the middle of the project and it has no longer become fun, it has become tedious, boring, and never-ending. Then we find ourselves distracted by something else, something more exciting and we turn our attention elsewhere.

It is true in life as well. Many relationships begin with excitement and joy and adventure, then comes a bump in the road, the middle of the long stretch, the reality of the honeymoon being over, and people simple quit on another. They have affairs or shut-down or turn their attention to work or fall into addictions, because they were not prepared for the difficulty of the journey.

Jesus’ parable is not about unfinished projects around the house or unfinished goals or ambitions. Jesus’ parable and his words for us this morning are about the middle; and it serendipitous that the lectionary had this passage on the day we chose to baptize two new members. The middle of the journey is the most difficult part of life, specifically the Christian journey. It is akin to the long drive on 95/85 to Raleigh. You leave Richmond fast and enter Petersburg and then you find yourself on a long stretch of highway nothingness and you wonder if it will ever end. Following Christ is such a journey.

Today is an exciting day. You can feel the joy and excitement in the fresh air as we gather by the river in preparation for baptism. You can sense the hope and newness of life. Yet this is just the beginning of the journey. We excitedly pick up our crosses and carry them, following Jesus wherever he leads until he leads us to a place we really didn’t want to go.

In our age though, we need willing Christians to follow Christ where he leads, even if that place is somewhere we hoped not to go. The world doesn’t need church-goers, it needs above all else, Christians who are willing to abandon the securities of home for the insecurities of our cross. The world needs followers of Christ who endure the middle of their journey.

It reminds me of another story:

One day a farmer went out to sow some seeds. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate right up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seeds fell among the thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times what was sown.

This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with great joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear the word, but as they go about their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches, pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on the good soil stand for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain, and by persevering produce a crop.

We have cultivated culture of followers who are planted among the rocks and thorns. It is time to change that culture. It is time for us to embrace our call, pick up our cross and carry on. In our serious time, we need serious Christians who see the cross as a way of life, not just a way to eternal life. We need to cultivate deeper roots so that when the time of testing comes, we will not wither or fade away. We need to be a church that cultivates deep healthy soil so when the time of testing comes for our new friends in Christ, they will have a church community with deep roots to lean on until theirs become firmly planted.